Steak Cooking Tips - The Secret to Perfection in Cooking Steak
December 13, 2009 by Patricia
Filed under Cooking Tips
When you go to a steak house, you get served with a juicy steak cut that’s been cooked to perfection - slightly charred on the outside but juicy on the inside, well-cooked but not overdone, soft but not raw, and every bite is a delight to the palate and the taste buds. It looks so simple but how come that when you try to cook steak at home, you can’t seem to come up with the same perfect steak? To get the perfect steak, you need to take several things into consideration. Here are some steak cooking tips that you can try when you cook steak at home.
Attaining perfection in cooking steak depends on a number of steak cooking tips. One is about the marinade. Some people have the wrong notion that the best steaks are made with very complicated marinades, with rare spices and all those secret formulations. Actually, the best steaks are those that have been marinated with the simplest and most basic of ingredients, like, say, just pepper and salt. Maybe you can sprinkle it with a little dash of Worcestershire sauce, but that’s all. When you eat steak, you want to enjoy the full taste of the meat; you don’t want to lose that in a confusion of so many different flavorings.
How long should you marinate the steak? That’s another question that would spell the difference between the perfect steak and a so-so piece of meat on your plate. This is where the general steak cooking tip “the more the better” would apply. Overnight works better than a few hours in terms of getting the flavor to really sink into the meat. If you will not have enough lead preparation time to marinate the steak, most steak cooking tips would tell you that marinating at least two hours would be good enough. How long you marinate would also depend on the thickness of the cut. A thick slab of steak would take longer to marinate but it is also better in terms of ensuring the tenderness and juiciness of the steak when cooked.
Of course, none of these steak cooking tips would work if you did not have a good steak cut to begin with. When you go to the meat shop, ask for the most tender lean part of the beef that does not have ligaments. You may get tenderloin or T-bone, but the part that is considered the best for the perfect steak is the rib eye, which gives out that luscious steak flavor even with the simplest marinade.
Cooking Tips and Tricks For Cooking Chicken
November 28, 2009 by Patricia
Filed under Cooking Tips
Chicken is a very common item in our daily menus and for some people, it can be a challenge to find cooking tips and tricks that can put a new twist on this standard ingredient. However, this really shouldn’t be too difficult because there are hundreds of recipes out there that can teach you to prepare chicken in ways that you have never thought of before.
Cooking Chicken the Healthy Way
Chicken is already essentially one of the healthiest kinds of meat you can use, but there are certain cooking tips and tricks you can follow to make this an even more nutritious food item. While fried chicken is certainly one of the most popular chicken recipes in the world, it is not really the most nutritious. There are many other ways of preparing chicken that can help preserve as much of its inherent nutritional value as possible, such as roasting, steaming and boiling. If you absolutely need to fry your chicken, you should remove the skin to reduce oil content and also use a non-stick pan when frying, which will require less cooking oil than regular skillets.
When boiling chicken, you may also notice some fats forming on the surface of the broth as the chicken is cooked. Popular cooking tips and tricks will tell you to skim off this oil as it accumulates and remove it from the broth. Also, it is very important to remove the skin before cooking, not before eating the chicken, so that the uhealthy substances in it won’t have a chance to be absorbed by the meat during the cooking process.
Cooking Tips and Tricks for Roasting Chicken
Roasting is another popular way to cook chicken. This is a relatively straightforward method of cooking and you might think you know all there is to know about roasting chicken. However, you might still learn a few things from the experts. For instance, did you know that it is healthier to roast the chickens without wrapping them in foil first? Or that using dark-colored trays will reduce roasting time rather than using shiny metallic ones? It is also interesting to know that tying chicken legs together makes for longer cooking time and uneven roasting. Furthermore, you should always use a separate bowl for marinading and basting the chicken. By following these cooking tips and tricks, you will be able to prepare chicken recipes for your family that are nutritious and delicious at the same time.



